Representatives of the most prominent family businesses in the Region of Murcia, which are the driving force of its economy and that of the country, attended the launch of the International Chair of Family Business UCAM-Amefmur this morning in the Temple of the Los Jerónimos Monastery. The Chair has been created with the aim of promoting and supporting family businesses through research, training, the provision of services and knowledge transfer. 

The spirit of this chair is embedded in the very DNA of UCAM, given that it is also a family business. The university has a long history of promoting university-business relationship through industrial doctorates, of which it is a pioneer in Spain; international research chairs, with the recent launch of its high-tech incubator in health, sport and food (UCAM HiTech); or the introduction, next year, of the Dual Degree in Gastronomy (the first to be taught in the region in this modality). As a result of these initiatives, the Universidad Católica de Murcia, together with the Asociación Murciana de la Empresa Familiar (Family Business Association of Murcia), has created this chair, whose Advisory Board includes Grupo Fuertes, Zenith, Vidal Golosinas, Grupo Gea Perona, Transmed, Euromarina, Moyca, Padilla Fire Doors, Terra Pilar and Roly. 

The event was attended by executives from the most relevant family businesses in the Region of Murcia, representing different industries such as food, banking, construction, media, including members of the Chair, members of the academic community, etc. At the presidential table were, on behalf of the UCAM, its president José Luis Mendoza, its rector Josefina García, and the dean of Law and director of the Chair, Jaime Sánchez Vizcaíno, as well as José María Tortosa, president of Amefmur, Juan Corona, academic advisor of the Instituto de la Empresa Familiar (Family Business Institute), who participated via a video message; and José Vicente de los Mozos, president of Renault Spain and worldwide vice-president of the company.  

José Luis Mendoza, President of UCAM, praised "the impressive work carried out by family businesses as generators of wealth” and said that "the State should enable their business activity". He also stressed that "workers are their essential assets", defending their stability and ethical and moral values, as " economic profit cannot be above human beings; it should be achieved in an orderly manner". 

José Luis Mendoza also valued "the work that UCAM is carrying out as a family business, generating wealth and jobs, highlighting the work carried out in research, in which UCAM has invested more than 176 million euros since its foundation, and in sports, with which it has contributed to the international projection of the Region". 

Meanwhile, José María Tortosa, president of Amefmur, explained that "without the family business it would be more complicated for there to be a family" and referred to its objectives, which are "on the one hand internationalisation, as shown by the expansion of UCAM, and on the other hand, the legal and business dimension". 

Jaime Sánchez Vizcaíno, Dean of Law at UCAM and Director of the Chair, emphasised that "this is a very innovative chair, as we are incorporating not only professors and researchers from the Universidad Católica into the academic council, but also a group of family businesspeople who are going to help us in the development of the objectives we have set ourselves". He added that "we are going to carry out activities aimed fundamentally at the training of managers and members of the companies, both nationally and internationally”. Also, a new master’s degree in Family Business will be launched, which will be taught in Spanish and English. Finally, he praised the role played by family businesses, and in particular that of UCAM, which "despite the many difficulties and obstacles that have been placed in its way, is nowadays a point of reference".  

Currently, the educational institution has more than 4,000 direct and indirect employees and more than 22,000 students, of which over 3,000 are international students from 102 countries, studying at its campuses in Murcia and Cartagena, generating great wealth in the surrounding area, in addition to those of its branches in other countries.  

Josefina García, Rector of UCAM, stressed that the university-business relationship is essential for the advancement of society, an area in which the Universidad Católica is developing numerous pioneering initiatives such as the industrial doctorate programme or dual degrees (this coming academic year it will introduce the degree in Gastronomy).  

Training, talent and leadership 

José Vicente de los Mozos, President of Renault Spain and Vice-President of the company worldwide, gave the keynote speech "Industry in Spain. A project for the future of the country", in which he stressed that "the economy is created by entrepreneurs. We are in a country where we have been a benchmark in manufacturing and where we are unfortunately losing weight, so it is important to rediscover ourselves, as manufacturing is the main pillar for a sustainable economy in the future", pointing out that the keys to this are "digitisation, decarbonisation, automation and internationalisation". After his presentation, he answered questions from several students, in which he remarked that there are three areas that he considers crucial: training, talent and leadership. In this sense, he pointed out that the academic world, and in particular UCAM, is a privileged place to train the leaders of the future.